diff --git a/lib/buffer.js b/lib/buffer.js
index 73899ba1422..72a82c0134c 100644
--- a/lib/buffer.js
+++ b/lib/buffer.js
@@ -91,6 +91,10 @@ function allocPool () {
 
 
 function Buffer (subject, encoding, legacy, slice_legacy) {
+  if (!(this instanceof Buffer)) {
+    return new Buffer(subject, encoding, legacy, slice_legacy);
+  }
+
   var length, type;
 
   // Are we slicing?